1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiring member, a manufacturing method of a wiring member, and a wiring member connection structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, vehicles with a rear battery require a long battery cable for transmitting electricity from the rear side to the front side. In general, circular or flat thick wires for automobiles are used as those battery cables. In many wire manufacturing methods of such thick wires, a conductor as a wiring member obtained by twisting copper element wires together is covered with an insulating covering (e.g., made of polyvinyl chloride) by extrusion molding. In the extrusion molding, heat-molten insulating material is extruded out of a die together with a linear conductor, whereby the outer circumferential surface of the conductor is covered with the insulating material. Thus, covering the conductor with an insulating covering by extrusion molding requires that the conductor be a soft member obtained by twisting or not be bent if it is a hard member.
Among known manufacturing methods of an insulated conductor are a manufacturing method of an electric conductor (disclosed in JP-A-58-142708) which is a thin plate having insulative ceramic inclusions and a manufacturing method of an oxide superconducting wire (disclosed in JP-A-2000-268649).
Incidentally, in routing of a wiring member such as a battery cable in a vehicle compartment, to meet a need of enlargement of the vehicle compartment space, it is necessary to route the wiring member along a body panel and to reduce the thickness of the wiring member. To route a wiring member along a body panel, the wiring member needs to be bent so as to conform to the shape of the body panel.
However, it is difficult to bend a thick wire so that it conforms to the shape of a body panel. Furthermore, it is difficult to cover a hard conductor such as a busbar that has been bent so as to be able to extend along a body panel, with an insulating covering by extrusion molding. It is therefore desired to provide a wiring member in which a thin, bent conductor capable of being routed along a body panel is covered with a molded insulating covering.